Stories from the field

As someone who loves to eat, you have no idea how happy I was when I found out I was placed in Hanoi for my Kiva Fellowship. Vietnam has some of the absolute best food in the world.

Vietnamese dishes commonly use lemongrass, fish sauce, ginger, mint, basil, bird's eye chili, and lime in all sorts of delicious combinations.These distinct flavors combined with French influences come together to create dishes so rich and varied in flavor that my stomach actually grumbled when I read the Kiva email saying that I would be spending the next few months in Hanoi. This may have been a mere coincidence, but I prefer to think that the human body just knows what's good for it and what will make it happy.

One of my favorite things to do in Hanoi is just wander around looking for new places to eat (pro tip: if a place is packed full of locals, then you should be eating there). What follows is a photo log of some of the foods I've eaten during my time here:

BANH MY: literally translating to "bread", banh my sandwiches can vary greatly depending on how the vendor prefers to prepare them. This one, for example, is more of a bite size snack than the larger ones made with baguettes that I'm accustomed to. What is this, banh my for ants? It still tasted good.

PHO: 'nuff said. Those things in the background are Chinese donuts, which are fried and salted. Really great with soups.

PHO XAO: pho noodles that are stir fried for a crunchy texture.

A typical street market in Hanoi. Markets like these are where all of the ingredients used to make the above dishes come from.

And finally, I'll leave you with a photo of the quintessential dining experience in Hanoi...fully grown adults sitting on little plastic stools that appear to be made for toddlers. It took a full month before I could comfortably sit on one for longer than 30 minutes, but now I wouldn't have it any other way.

For reference, the guy in the green shirt is about 5'7". I am 6'0". My neck hurts.

Honorable Mentions: It feels wrong to not include bun cha and cha ca, but I was too busy feasting to take pictures. No regrets!

Jon is a member of the 20th Kiva Fellows class and is based in Hanoi, Vietnam. He is working with the Kiva field partnerSEDA, which aims to alleviate poverty by offering financial services to underserved, rural populations around Hanoi. 70% of SEDA's total loans are made to low-income families, and 97% of its clients are women.Join the Fans of SEDA and Binh Minh lending team and make a loan to SEDA's borrowers today!

My husband, our son who resides in Hong Kong with his family and I all had the marvelous adventure of spending three days touring in and about Hanoi. We stayed at the historic Metropole Hotel.
So loved the charm of the Vietnamese people, the food and French Colonial past...ranks up there for a return visit.

in the event that Angela aroused ? the asian euro feature (Transylvanian, i do believe your ex referred to it as) this vampire landscape, my spouse in order to groan. reality is, everyday people in ? sc ? 're ready at alternative energy sources. while i decrease in ? 5 excess pounds I be dressed in the pants minus the shaper, for men, a lot off the ? top types continue to be association and william Rast. there're the particular most stagnant ? bottomed as well as that are out there in every kind of areas.
In a photograph essay or dissertation known by names like

Add Your Comments

Kiva's Comment Policy

To encourage conversation and build community on Kiva's blogs, we've made commenting accessible and viewable by anyone visiting Kiva. Given this high visibility, we ask that you abide by the following guidelines when posting a comment:

Comments should be relevant to the content of specific blog posts and are not to be used for self-promotion or to advertise or solicit.

Please refrain from using profanity or language that may be seen as degrading or disrespectful.

Commenters are expected to accurately and honestly represent themselves. False identities will not be tolerated.

Kiva reserves the right to remove comments in violation of this policy. See Kiva's Terms of Use Agreement for more information on user-generated content.

Born in Phoenix and raised in Seattle, Jon earned his bachelor's degree in Finance and Business Administration from the University of Washington Foster School of Business. After graduating he spent time backpacking in Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam which sparked his passion for travel. Since then, he's explored several other countries in Latin America and Asia. Jon currently works in the Advisory practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers supporting organizations in the areas of program development and performance improvement. He is taking a sabbatical to volunteer as a Kiva Fellow and is thrilled to be working with field partners in both Cambodia and Vietnam.

Search Fellows Updates

About Kiva Fellows Program

Kiva Fellows are volunteers who maximize Kiva's impact around the world. By working closely with our Field Partners in over 50 countries, they make sure loan dollars go where they're needed most -- while having a few adventures along the way. Learn more >>